Monday, 3 October 2011

How Much Space Do You Need To Keep Chickens? Try Keeping Bantams If You Are Struggling For Space

If you are considering keeping chickens as pets or just to give you eggs then you're going to need to consider how much space you have available.

In answer to the question of 'how much space do you need to keep chickens' then the answer is always going to be 'as much as possible.'

That said though if properly planned then you do not need a lot of space to keep happy, healthy and productive chickens. You do however need to follow the 5 Freedom rules and as long as you can tick these boxes then you can certainly keep chickens:

1) Freedom from thirst and hunger2) Freedom from pain, injury and disease3) Freedom from fear or distress4) Freedom from any discomfort5) Freedom to live with normal, natural behaviour

So what is the absolute minimum area that is suggested to keep chickens and be able to abide by the above rules?

Well most experts would suggest the actual coop or hen-house should allow for one square foot per chicken. So if your chicken coop was say three feet by three feet then you could comfortably house 9 chickens in this area of space.

But you will also need a chicken run for your chickens to get out and about for exercise, to scratch around and to feed. (Chickens just love to scratch around!)

There is no hard and fast rule for this area but again, most experienced chicken owners would suggest that if you were housing 6 chickens then you would need approximately six feet by 3 feet for the chicken run.

You can then consider the size of your actual chickens.

If you have a larger area of land then you would probably want to go for standard sized chickens however there is a smaller breed of chicken called a Bantam.

Many people opt for Bantams due to space restrictions and many people consider that they have better personalities than standard chickens whoever the downside is that they do lay eggs that are about half the size of a large or standard sized chicken. As far as size goes though the chickens are about 1/4 of the size of standard chickens so they are much smaller.

There are several popular breeds of Bantams, more affectionately known as 'Banties.' The three most common are the Silkie Bantam - named mainly due to the fact that their feathers are very soft and not barbed like most standard chickens.

If your are considering keeping your own Chickens then it is important to know how big to build a Chicken Run & Coop especially if you are struggling for space.If you are short of room in your garden or back yard then you may consider keeping smaller breeds of chicken such as Bantams. Visit this website to discover much more about keeping chickens from the experts and how to Build A Chicken Run